Arsenal youngster Krystian Bielik feels that his new role as a central defender has helped in his growth as a player.

The 17-year-old moved to London from Polish outfit Legia Warsaw this January after having impressed with his performances during his first year at senior level.




A defensive midfielder by nature, the Polish Under-17 international has been used as a defender by Arsenal's youth team manager Steve Gatting, a fact that the youngster insists, gave him further scope for improvement.

In his new central defensive role, physicality is one thing that Bielik feels is something new, an aspect that is complimented by the ability to mark strikers and win headers in the air.
 


While the experience is new, the starlet is not adverse to the idea of learning and insists that he has improved in a lot of areas while there are some gray areas that still need to be addressed.

relatedNewsStory

“The physicality was something new for me", Bielik told his club's official website.

“I only started playing centre-back this season and it’s the first time I’ve had to mark strikers who are running in behind.

“It’s also the first time that I’ve had to win headers. When I play in defensive midfield I don’t really have to run as much to mark players, so marking a striker at centre back is a lot more physical and has been a new experience for me.

“A lot of the time they ran behind me to go one-on-one with our goalkeeper, so that is definitely something that I need to improve on.

"We spoke a lot after the game and the coaches told me what I needed to do to improve and this has really helped me, and I think I really improved on that in the West Ham United game."